Raoul Salama

Trained as an engineer, Raoul Salama has spent most of his career in the telecommunications sector, becoming Vice-President of SITA (the airline telecommunications network) and then Managing Director of Telecom Partners (a start-up specializing in voice-over-IP solutions).

In 2005, he decided to redirect his career by founding VINALYS, a consulting company dedicated to the world of wine, spirits and gastronomy.

His oenological activities began in the 80s, when he won the Franco-British tasting challenge (London, 1980), then the world trophy organized by the US International Food Show (New York 1982).

In the field of journalism, he contributed to the Revue du vin de France from 1983 to 2016, and since then to Bettane + Dessseauve publications and the Lebey gastronomic guide.

Alongside his other activities, he teaches at the Bordeaux/ISVV oenology faculty (from 1983 to 2022) and at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris (since 2003).

In 2014, Raoul Salama and Amarante Puget acquired Château de Balleure in Burgundy, which they converted into a prestigious guesthouse with a wine list that is particularly renowned, both in France and internationally.